Day 0, August 10, 2025
We got to the airport in Cleveland early and it was a good thing. Jerry did not check Jonny’s dates close enough and just checked the flight number. Jonny had booked to return a day early. So we spent a good part of our early time rebooking him back on the 19th. The flight itself was fine. Being on the plane for 7 hours was rough and we didn’t get much sleep about and hour or hour and a half total, and we planned on hitting the ground running.
Day 1, August 11, 2025
We arrived and retrieved our luggage with no issues and made our way to the car rental. We found that when Jerry cancelled the original booking and rebooked for July instead of August. They didn’t have any more cars available so we had to go to another counter and get another car. They only had a station wagon Toyota so we booked it for 3 times the amount of the original booking. We were shuttled to the place to pick up the car and they had a small compact waiting for us instead. They didn’t have the car we booked at all. They moved us to an SUV they had available and we loaded all of our luggage to make sure it would fit with 4 people. Jerry went back in to finish the paperwork only to find out the vehicle needed to go to the shop for repairs. So we unloaded all our luggage and had to wait for an hour to find a car that would fit us. We needed up with a Skoda sedan than had a really big trunk and was going to work. By then we had to directly rush to our Guinness tour. We were scheduled for 3 hours after our plane landed. We barely made it in time. The Guinness tour was interesting the smells and tasting were good.
We then toured the Dublin Castle and did a little walking around to sweater shops, but did not buy anything. We checked into where we were staying. The garage was made for mini cooper parking or smaller. We heard a couple of people hitting concrete poles trying to park their VW gulf hatchback. I was able to squeeze my car into a parallel parking spot. Then we had to climb 4 floor of stairs with 90 kilos of luggage since the elevator was out. We did meet up with Guy, Pattie and Hayden for dinner. We both got the fish and chips and it was really good or we were really hungry!
Day 2, August 12, 2025
We woke up around 7:15 and got ready and repacked our bags and walked around a couple of miles and had breakfast at a place called Rosie’s Cafe. We drove to the city center to pick up Jonny and Alexys.
Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) Visitor Centre
Newgrange – World Heritage Site.
Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic) monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, it is the jewel in the crown of Ireland’s Ancient East. Newgrange was constructed about 5,200 years ago (3,200 B.C.) which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. The mound is ringed by 97 large kerbstones, some of which are engraved with symbols called megalithic art; the most striking is the entrance stone.
Jonny asked Alexys to marry him at Newgrange. We’ve gained a wonderful daughter-in-law to be!
Hill of Tara, inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland; it also appears in Irish mythology. Tara consists of numerous monuments and earthworks—dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age—including a passage tomb (the “Mound of the Hostages”), burial mounds, round enclosures, a standing stone (believed to be the Lia Fáil or “Stone of Destiny”)
After we toured the Hill of Tara we ran we talked with a bicycle rider named Gerry who was a tour guide and gave us some suggestions on places to see while we were in Gallway.
Dinner at Tyrrellspass Castle on our way to Galway where we rented a house with Guy and Pattie to stay for the next 3 nights.
We could only shower one at a time due to power constraints on the in line water heaters and it was after 11:00 before everyone ate and got showers and into bed.
Day 3, August 13,2025
We got up before 7:00 and slowly got around and ready for the day in Connemara National Park, north of Gallway. We drove the 90 minutes to the park including the last 10-15 miles on tiny roads with sheep all over the place including the road. We parked and had a quick bite before hiking some trails and seeing some beautiful scenery in the mountainous area. We had a light lunch there after spending about 4 hours in the park. Jonny and Alexys hiked all the way to the top of diamond hill. We only hiked about a third of way up, but the views were spectacular. We then headed back to Galway where we did some grocery shopping and then ate at the house we rented before relaxing a little by telling stories of Jerry and Guys driving trials in Ireland and going to bed.
Day 4, August 14,2025
We were up at 6:00 which gave us plenty of time to get ready for our trip to the Aran Islands today. We booked a ferry for 11:45 but had to drive 25 miles, about an hour, to catch the ferry. We arrived for the ferry about 11:00 and parked the car and walked to the ferry and were there by 11:15. Enough time to use the restrooms and at about 11:30 the ferry arrived and started to board. We left promptly at 11:45 and the ferry took about 45 minutes to get to Innishmore which is the largest island and furthest into the Atlantic Ocean. We disembarked and at the end of the pier was the place we rented electric bikes. We were glad we got electric bikes as it was very hilly and allowed us to see more than we could have ever done without the electric power assist. Riding electrics bike was very enjoyable and we got to enjoy the scenery and wonderful weather. Part of the island is a small town and as we rode out we passed tiny fields of about 1/4-1/2 acre and they were fenced in with stone walls and the visual effect was amazing. Although they are known for their wool sweaters we didn’t see any sheep, mostly cows, horses and a few alpacas. We went beyond the farms until the end of the road and parked the bikes and took the 1/2 mile uphill climb on a mostly gravel path. Once we got close to the 3000 year old fort, the gravel gave way to a rocky uneven path up the last 100-200 meters. We entered the fort with its stone walls and one side was open due to the cliffs. The view was absolutely amazing down the coastline of the island and views back towards town were just as incredible. We climbed down the hill and did a little Aran sweater shopping at a place at the bottom of the path. The family run business was helpful in helping Nikki find what she wanted and it was a pleasure listening to the young man who helped us out. As the Irish would say, “It was rather lovely!” We rode back past the only sand beach on the island and took the green trail, lower road, back to see the seal colony before heading up a steep path back to the red trail to go see the old lighthouse that was built within an old castle ruin. The path from the red trail to the castle ruins was so steep our electric bikes couldn’t handle the grade and we had to leave them scattered along the stone walled path wherever could go not further on bike and decided to walk. The castle was a ruin and the lighthouse was out of order for renovations and we were the only ones up there. Again the views were spectacular and worth the climb. At that point our time was running out and we headed back to town where we visited another sweater shop before turning the bikes back in and heading back tot the ferry with only a few minutes to spare. It was probably the most pleasurable 4 hours of the trip so far.
Day 5, August 15, 2025
We had to be out of the house by 10:00. Alexys made cinnamon French toast, eggy toast in Europe, and Jonny made eggs and toast for everyone in the house. We got packed up and headed to the ruins of Merlin Castle in Galway. We spent some time there and befriended a border collie type dog, Peggy, who wanted us to continue throwing her stick and didn’t want to continue on with her owner. We then left Galway and headed towards Mooghaun Hill Fort where we hiked for about an hour exploring the big wall that encamped many smaller walls and was dated to about 3000 years ago. We found tons of blackberries along the trail and ate as many as we could find. From there we stopped in Newcastle and had a nice lunch at The Brown Morel. We then toured the partially restored Newcastle Castle built back in the 13th century and then rebuilt upon again in the 16th century. From there we finished our trip to Glenbeigh where our next house rental was. The kids were dropped off back in town as they wanted to eat and drink at a local pub. They texted us at 1:30am asking for a ride back as the taxis were no longer running and it was really dangerous to walk on the winding narrow rods with no sidewalks.
Day 6, August 16, 2025
After breakfast. We went out exploring and found Rossbeigh beach and walked the beach. We tried several times trying to get up to the top of mountain overlooking the beach and bay. The road up was a small single lane narrow road and we attempted to get up it a few times and were met with vehicles and we had to back out with a steep hill on the left and a steep cliff on the right. We abandoned that idea and headed back to the house. We went out later and had lunch in town at the Tower Hotel Pub. Lunch was very good and we enjoyed the heavy accent Irish conversations going on around us. We then did a short hike along the fairy trail that had lots of flowers and painted fairy houses along the way out to the bay that was at low tide and allowed us to go out on the rocks and explore a little further.
Day 7, August 17, 2025
We made breakfast and got around for our planned trip to Killarney National Park which was about a 50 minute drive from the house. We visited Ross Castle and took the tour for 5 Euros each. It was technically a tower house and was restored in the 1970’s. It was very informative and the history was actually pretty depressing. From there we drove through the park and visited Torc Falls and took the yellow trail which was almost 1.75 miles. We descended on the switchbacks and rose on mostly steps that were explained in someone else’s blog as:
“There is a continuation up to the top of the waterfall and beyond which almost killed us both (fit young and able bodied) would not recommend the secondary part to anyone unwilling or unable to climb 100 million steps and paths that never seem to end. However if you are a mountain goat the experience might be overall very pleasant for you.”
Day 8, August 18, 2025
We packed up and Jonny and Alexys made “American Style” pancakes, eggs, and sautéed onions and peppers. Today was the first day the high wasn’t going to reach 70 or 80 and be the normal mid 60’s. We all went to Blarney Castle and Gardens. The gardens were amazing. So varied, so many plants I’d never seen before. I loved walking around and exploring with Jerry. We walked to the top of the castle tower so that Jerry could ‘kiss’ the Blarney Stone.
Then we drove to Cork. Dropped Jonny and Alexys off at the very lovely Vienna Woods Hotel and headed to our our hotel, the Maldron Hotel South Mall Cork City. For dinner, we went to the Italian restaurant Scoozi! Where we shared a Nutella brownie with ice cream. Yummy!!
Day 9, August 19, 2025
We packed our bags and headed over to pick up Jonny and ALexys at the Vienna Woods Hotel. From there we drove to Dublin Airport, returned the rental car and took the shuttle back to the terminals were we went through security and Nikki was flagged and had her bag searched for her illegal hair conditioner that their scanners and sniffers could not identity. Other than that everything went according to plan and we boarded our plane around 3:15 to head back to Cleveland.
Post trip notes
Our rental car is a Skoda, tons of room.
Jaunting Carts everywhere
Be careful on narrow roads to historic monolithic sites. Tour buses take the entire road.
What may appear to be county hedges may be stone walls covered in ivy.